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en-usEngadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronicsCopyright 2018 AOL Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only.https://www.joystiq.com/2014/10/10/watch-civilization-maestro-sid-meier-discuss-his-storied-career/https://www.joystiq.com/2014/10/10/watch-civilization-maestro-sid-meier-discuss-his-storied-career/https://www.joystiq.com/2014/10/10/watch-civilization-maestro-sid-meier-discuss-his-storied-career/#comments

While you wait for the October 24 debut of Civilization: Beyond Earth you can pass the time with this lengthy presentation from Civilization creator Sid Meier, in which the legendary developer offers insight into his impressive career and the strategy games that have made him such a revered figure.

Following in the footsteps of Blizzard and Mojang comes Firaxicon, an upcoming conference dedicated to Civilization developer Firaxis Games.

According to Eventbrite, fans attending Firaxicon will enjoy "unique Firaxicon swag," a tour of the Firaxis offices, a chance to meet the developers and an early opportunity to play Civilization: Beyond Earth. Firaxis co-founder Sid Meier is also scheduled to host a presentation dubbed "An Evening with Sid Meier." There are no details on what Meier plans to discuss, but after three-plus decades of developing the most addictive games in history he's probably got some great anecdotes.

Tickets for Firaxicon are available for $40 and can be purchased from Eventbrite. The event itself is scheduled to kick off on September 27 at 10 a.m. and run until September 28 at 10 a.m. Though events are only scheduled through Saturday evening, the organizers plan to keep the gaming area open all night for boardgames and PC gaming.

The good people at Humble Bundle have opted to make the Humble Sid Meier Bundle even more attractive, with two additional DLC packs for Civilization 5, as well as the 2004 remake of seminal swashbuckling simulator Sid Meier's Pirates.

As it now stands, those who spend any amount of money between $0 and $9.19 for the Humble Sid Meier Bundle will receive Civilization 3 Complete Edition, Civilization 4 Complete Edition, Sid Meier's Railroads, Sid Meier's Ace Patrol and that game's Pacific Skies expansion pack. Spend between $9.19 and $15 and you'll walk away with all of the aforementioned software, plus Sid Meier's Pirates, Civilization 5 and the Gods And Kings, Scrambled Nations and Scrambled Continents DLC additions spawned by the strategy game. Any amount over $15 will add Civilization 5: Brave New World to the Bundle, completing that game's range of DLC releases. Additionally, the highest pricing tier includes the Civilization 5 soundtrack as well as "Baba Yetu," the Grammy-winning theme from Civilization 4.

As with all Humble Bundle collections, those who purchase the Humble Sid Meier Bundle are given a choice on how to allocate their cash. You can either reward publisher 2K Games for making these games available, or you can shift your money toward Action Against Hunger, a humanitarian group working to end starvation and malnutrition throughout the developing world. Visit the Humble Bundle website for more information.

Humble Bundle offers three tiers of entry into Sid Meier's epic, world-building simulation games: The first package offers Civilization 3 Complete, Civilization 4: The Complete Edition, Ace Patrol, Ace Patrol: Pacific Skies and Railroads for any price you want. The second tier adds Civilization 5 and its Gods and Kings DLC if you pay more than the average, and the third tier packs in Civ 5's Brave New World DLC for $15 or more.

The Humble Sid Meier Bundle is live for two weeks and benefits the charity Action Against Hunger, a humanitarian organization with the goal of ending world hunger. As always, spend more than $1 to get Steam keys with your Humble Sid Meier Bundle order, and split whatever you pay among Humble, the developer and the charity.

2K Games PR Manager Brian Roundy delivered the bad news: "Civilization Online is developed by South Korea-based XL Games in partnership with 2K, and will be available first in Korea. No release date has been set. There are no plans for a North American release at this time."

This doesn't mean all hope is lost, of course. It might be that the studios are holding their cards close to their chest or that they don't want to commit until they see how it performs in Korea. But if you were camping in front of a retail store (why?) for this release in America, you should probably go home for now.

You might have heard about a little project called Civilization Online, a new MMO in development based on the popular Civilization series of turn-based strategy games. You also might have heard that XL Games CEO Jake Song, of ArcheAge and Lineage fame, is overseeing the project as Executive Producer. But chances are, that's really all you have heard. Until now, that is.

We had the opportunity to sit down with Song, XL Games Senior VP Jung Hwan Kim, and Producer Garrett Bittner from 2K Games to get the scoop on the project. Follow along for all the juicy details about building up civilizations in a new open world environment, including crafting, PvP, and more!%Gallery-195539%
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2k-gamescivilizationcivilization-onlineclassescoconquestcraftingcryengine-3exclusivefeaturedgalleriesgallerygame mechanicsgame-mechanicsgarrett-bittnerhistoricalinterviewinterviewsjake-songjung-hwan-kimmassively-exclusivenew titlesnew-titlepreviewspvprolesscreenshotscreenshotssid-meiersiegingwaging-warwarxl-gamesWed, 07 Aug 2013 08:30:00 -0400319|20688386https://massively.joystiq.com/2013/05/14/sid-meier-on-mobile-and-the-value-of-hardcore-gamers/https://massively.joystiq.com/2013/05/14/sid-meier-on-mobile-and-the-value-of-hardcore-gamers/https://massively.joystiq.com/2013/05/14/sid-meier-on-mobile-and-the-value-of-hardcore-gamers/#commentsYou know you're getting old when legendary PC developer Sid Meier gives interviews about his foray into mobile gaming. It's not as bad as it sounds, though, because the man behind the Civilization series tells GamesIndustry.biz that the core gaming audience is still driving the industry regardless of platform.

"I think we've seen historically that the more casual gaming platforms and markets do have a kind of rise and fall pattern to them, whereas the hardcore gaming market, the serious gamers are much more stable, and they're going to be around for a long time and will keep playing games," Meier said.

Meier also ruminates on his approach to mobile free-to-play, which is basically the same try-the-demo-buy-the-full-game-if-you-like-it model that PC gaming has employed for decades. "It's not something like a constant stream of purchases every day, but it's more just unlocking the rest of the game and then you are done," he explained.

There's a certain stigma attached to strategy games, where deep systems and mechanics can hoist a sky-high barrier for the uninitiated. Sid Meier's Ace Patrol sidesteps these stigmas, presenting a turn-based experience so simple that even the strategically challenged will be able to play and excel.

Designed for iOS devices, Ace Patrol is a dogfighting game set in WWI. With a series of taps, intense air combat is engaged over a battlefield of hexagonal grids. Using these taps, players execute everything from strafing to swooping dives, hard banking, the Immelman turn and other expert maneuvers.%Gallery-188035%
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2k-gamesfiraxisfiraxis-gamesiosipadiphonemobilesid-meiersid-meiers-ace-patrolMon, 13 May 2013 18:00:00 -040011|20563007https://www.joystiq.com/2013/05/09/will-wright-shares-admiration-for-the-three-ms-miyamoto-molyne/https://www.joystiq.com/2013/05/09/will-wright-shares-admiration-for-the-three-ms-miyamoto-molyne/https://www.joystiq.com/2013/05/09/will-wright-shares-admiration-for-the-three-ms-miyamoto-molyne/#comments

Bespectacled brain Will Wright is one of the world's most revered game designers, both within the industry and in the more mainstream eye. But which game designers does he admire the most?

Speaking at the Game Horizon conference in the UK via a video stream, Wright said he regards a great number of designers highly, including many up-and-comers. However, the Sims creator reserved special praise for three luminaries from his generation: Shigeru Miyamoto, Peter Molyneux, and Sid Meier.

Nintendo veteran Miyamoto was "obviously" Wright's first choice.

"He always takes the player first," Wright said. "Right off the bat he works with the controller, what does it feel like, how tactile and kinesthetic is what he's working on. He works from the inside out: 'what is the first five second player experience?' So his games have this craftsmanship behind them that's amazing and unique."

The feeling is mutual; a few years back, Miyamoto said he was particularly impressed by Wright as "a very unique person and someone very special." Aw.
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game-horizon-2013peter-molyneuxshigeru-miyamotosid-meierukwill-wrightThu, 09 May 2013 08:30:00 -040011|20563165https://www.joystiq.com/2013/05/01/sid-meiers-ace-patrol-lands-on-ios-may-9/https://www.joystiq.com/2013/05/01/sid-meiers-ace-patrol-lands-on-ios-may-9/https://www.joystiq.com/2013/05/01/sid-meiers-ace-patrol-lands-on-ios-may-9/#comments

Sid Meier's next project is an iOS game set in World War I called Ace Patrol, a dogfighting strategy game created by Meier himself. Ace Patrol will launch on the App Store May 9 as a free download.

Ace Patrol is comprised of four campaigns – all downloads gain access to the British campaign and multiplayer side; in-app purchase is required to access the other campaigns. Of course, you can also throw some coin down on the typical tactical and cosmetic boosts, like new planes and elaborate paint jobs.

Multiplayer pits two squadrons against each other, allowing for either hot-swapping a device or asynchronous matches over Game Center.%Gallery-187246%
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2k-games2k-mobileace-patrolfiraxisfiraxis-gamesiosipadiphonemobilesid-meiersid-meiers-ace-patrolWed, 01 May 2013 12:00:00 -040011|20548391https://massively.joystiq.com/2013/04/02/the-soapbox-game-developers-actually-are-rockstars/https://massively.joystiq.com/2013/04/02/the-soapbox-game-developers-actually-are-rockstars/https://massively.joystiq.com/2013/04/02/the-soapbox-game-developers-actually-are-rockstars/#comments

Shortly after this column series started, Massively's Shawn "Epic Beard" Schuster planted his feet on the wooden crate to tell us that game developers are not rockstars. And as much as it frightens me to disagree with him, I believe I have a moral obligation to let him know that he was wrong. Sure, his article pointed out that it takes a team to create a spectacular game and that the personalities of the gaming industry cannot do it by themselves. As he put it, even though Sid Meier didn't code all of Civilization and Richard Garriott didn't construct all of Tabula Rasa, their names sat proudly on the box. But just like rockstars, those two names and many more developers' names belong on the covers of their respective games.

Rockstars from Aerosmith to Beyonce are more than the faces on the covers of their albums. In college, I used to create CD covers for local recording artists, so I can tell you first-hand that even though there was only one name on the front, there were many names on the inside jacket, just as there are many names in game credits. So how exactly are game developers like superstar musicians? The analogy fits in nearly every single way.
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adam-gontieraerosmithascapbeyoncebiowarebungiecivilizationcrowdfundingculturedayzdouble-fineeconomyeddie-veddereditorialedmund-mcmillenfeaturedgabe-newellhaloindie-game-the-moviejustin-bieberkickstarterknights-of-the-old-republicknights-of-the-old-republic-2kurt-cobainlucasartsmatt-walstmicheal-stipemiscellaneousmmo industryobsidian-entertainmentop-edopinionrantrantsrichard-garriottscott-weilandshawn-schustershroud-of-the-avatarsid-meiersoapboxstone-temple-pilotssuper-meat-boytabula-rasateam-meatthe soapboxthe-soapboxthree-days-gracetim-schafertommy-refenesultima-onlinevalveTue, 02 Apr 2013 18:00:00 -0400319|20525597https://www.joystiq.com/2012/06/15/civilization-2-10-year-game-predicts-nuclear-wasteland-future-s/https://www.joystiq.com/2012/06/15/civilization-2-10-year-game-predicts-nuclear-wasteland-future-s/https://www.joystiq.com/2012/06/15/civilization-2-10-year-game-predicts-nuclear-wasteland-future-s/#comments

A few days ago, a thread on Reddit revolving around a tense Civilization 2 match received quite a bit of attention. Within the thread, user Lycerius detailed a scenario within the game that has been in play for about ten years. The American, Viking, and Celtic nations in his decade long battle remain locked in a 1700-year-long war, fighting over what little resources remain following years of nuclear carnage; in-game the year is 3991 AD. Now Civilization's mastermind, Sid Meier, has weighed-in on the nearly two thousand (in-game) year conflict.

"My first thought was, 'Wow! I can't believe anyone has been playing Civ II for that long,'" Sid Meier told The Associated Press (via Yahoo) in an interview. "It's been more than 15 years since we released that game, and I don't think any of us expected a decade-long game would come out of it. It would be amazing if we could come back in 2025 and find out if someone's had a 10-year game of Civ V going."

We note, for future generations, not to look to the global landscape in Lycerius' Civilization 2 match for hints into our own destiny. It's just a game. We wouldn't want this intense match to become the Mayan calendar equivalent for our family in the far-flung future.
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civilization-2firaxis-gamespcpoliticsredditsid-meierFri, 15 Jun 2012 20:30:00 -040011|20259674https://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/09/these-games-inspired-cliff-bleszinski-john-romero-will-wright/https://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/09/these-games-inspired-cliff-bleszinski-john-romero-will-wright/https://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/09/these-games-inspired-cliff-bleszinski-john-romero-will-wright/#comments

Everyone in the industry has a story about their formative experiences with video games, but Jon-Paul Dyson, the director of the International Center for the History of Electronic Games, was a bit more blunt than most.

"Great artists don't borrow. They steal," Dyson said, borrowing a quote from Pablo Picasso as he introduced Wil Wright, Sid Meier, John Romero, and Cliff Bleszinski. Speaking in front of a packed house at GDC, the four industry luminaries shared the games that inspired them as creators, and continue to influence them today.
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cliff-bleszinskigdcgdc-2012john-romeropac-manpinball-construction-setseven-cities-of-goldsid-meierthe-legend-of-zeldawill-wrightFri, 09 Mar 2012 16:00:00 -050011|20189507https://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/01/sid-meier-indirectly-involved-in-xcom-enemy-unknown/https://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/01/sid-meier-indirectly-involved-in-xcom-enemy-unknown/https://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/01/sid-meier-indirectly-involved-in-xcom-enemy-unknown/#comments

XCOM: Enemy Unknown's lead designer Jake Solomon may be part of a conspiracy at Firaxis that finds studio head Sid Meier experimenting on employees. Asked by PC Gamer if the legendary creator of the Civilization series is involved in the development of XCOM, Solomon noted he and Meier interact on an almost daily basis.

"I say 'Look, I have this problem. What do you think I should do?' and he's a very gifted designer. He can look at a situation and he can say 'have you tried this?' And I'll be like, 'oh, that's really good.' I claim all the credit for it, but I rely on him so much," Solomon said, before saying too much. "I'm now to the point where I can basically hear his voice in my head, which is probably not healthy. He tells me to hurt people. [laughs]"

In this interview with Game Informer, legendary developer Sid Meier says even he has succumbed to the lure of modern graphics. "I used to love to try and challenge the players' imagination," he says, "to show them a few pixels in 16 colors and try and convince them that they're ruling an empire to stand the test of time. But I think today's player is not really willing to make that investment, so we're able to bring the worlds to life in 3D."

But he also believes that beefing up the graphics has brought in a much bigger audience than games could have picked up 20 years ago. "You had to kind of suspend your disbelief and be willing to step into that world," says Meier. "Today we make it a lot easier," and as a result, players who want more than a few pixels on screen can also get their fix.

Meier's currently the creative director of game development at Firaxis, and though he's not participating directly on XCOM it doesn't mean he's not working. Every morning, he says, he comes out of the shower with "about 10 ideas," and is constantly iterating with his team on different prototypes. "Most of them," he says, "just go back into the trash heap." In other words, anyone who wants to make an awesome game should probably go root around in the garbage cans near Sparks Glencoe, Maryland.
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civilizationfiraxis-gamesgame-designgraphicsinterviewmarylandpcsid-meierstrategyWed, 01 Feb 2012 03:00:00 -050011|20161486https://www.joystiq.com/2012/01/24/sid-meier-keiji-inafune-and-riot-games-folks-added-to-gdc-semin/https://www.joystiq.com/2012/01/24/sid-meier-keiji-inafune-and-riot-games-folks-added-to-gdc-semin/https://www.joystiq.com/2012/01/24/sid-meier-keiji-inafune-and-riot-games-folks-added-to-gdc-semin/#comments

Sad your favorite game designer isn't getting his or her deserved time in the spotlight? Well dry those eyes, friend! It's gonna be hard to hold onto that grudge because today industry legends Sid Meier and Keiji Inafune have both been added to the GDC talk docket, as well as League of Legends proprietors, Riot Games. But hey, if you're not going to GDC, feel free to keep crying while you read the rest of this post.

Meier's talk, entitled "Interesting Decisions," will revolve around his viewpoint of gameplay as "a series of interesting decisions" and how developers can recognize and add these kinds of decisions, ultimately providing the player with a more fulfilling experience. Maybe he'll also talk a bit how that philosophy will play into XCOM: Enemy Unknown?

Inafune will aim to analyze the current state of the Japanese game industry in his sixty-minute talk, "The Future of Japanese Games." Along with his unnamed cohorts, he'll delve into the current problems facing the region and analyze the past success of Japanese game development. We imagine he'll also probably suffer through a lot of questions about Mega Man.

Finally, Riot Games offers a postmortem on its successful Dominion expansion for its runaway hit, League of Legends. Lead producer Travis George will offer insight into the expansion's genesis, all the way through production and launch.
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gdc-2012keiji-inafuneleague-of-legendsmicrosoftmobilepcplaystationps3sid-meierxboxxcom-enemy-unknownTue, 24 Jan 2012 23:00:00 -050011|20156002https://www.joystiq.com/2012/01/10/build-a-mighty-civilization-on-the-cheap-at-amazon-this-week/https://www.joystiq.com/2012/01/10/build-a-mighty-civilization-on-the-cheap-at-amazon-this-week/https://www.joystiq.com/2012/01/10/build-a-mighty-civilization-on-the-cheap-at-amazon-this-week/#comments

If you have a little bit of spare change and a lot of free time, Amazon has quite a deal for you. The retailer's deal of the week offers both Civilization IV and Civilization V at a hefty discount. Either game can be had for a mere $9.

Civilization World, the Facebook incarnation of the epic strategy series, is expected to launch this summer. A recent piece by CNN, in which Firaxis emperor Sid Meier called Civ World "the most dramatic stretch" the series has seen so far, as Meier expressed a typical Civ multiplayer game can easily span 12 or more continuous hours, but the Facebook version can start and stop over days and weeks.

The last major "stretch" for Civilization -- if you don't consider hex-based boards totally crazy -- was the console-based Civilization Revolution. Despite taking the core elements of Civ and doing a great job of bringing it to consoles, it apparently wasn't good enough for a sequel.
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2k-gamescivilization-networkcivilzation-worldfiraxispcsid-meierWed, 11 May 2011 21:30:00 -040011|19938097https://massively.joystiq.com/2011/03/15/the-soapbox-game-developers-are-not-rock-stars/https://massively.joystiq.com/2011/03/15/the-soapbox-game-developers-are-not-rock-stars/https://massively.joystiq.com/2011/03/15/the-soapbox-game-developers-are-not-rock-stars/#comments

Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column.

Take a moment to think of your single favorite game developer. Is this person your favorite because of his talent? Maybe he made a game that influenced you growing up, or he has a charming personality for interviews. Whatever the reason, we probably all have our favorite game developers whom we hold on a pedestal of greatness.

But did this one person make the game entirely by himself? Did Sid Meier write every line of code for the Civilization games? Did Richard Garriott draw every texture in Tabula Rasa? No, of course they didn't, but their names are right there on the box, showing ownership. Despite my own fanboy appreciation of certain devs, the title of this article says it all. With a few notable exceptions, those who make our favorite games make up a collective group of talented people who come together under proper leadership and design guidelines to create something that keeps us entertained for hours/weeks/months/years.

So why do we pick out one or two and treat them like rock stars?
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blizzardblizzard-entertainmentcliffybcommunity-teamculteaelectronic-artsepic-gamesfeaturedghostcrawlergreg-streetlate-night-with-jimmy-fallonmiscellaneousmmo industrymythicopinionpaul-barnettrichard-garriottrock-starsrockstarssid-meiersoapboxsoesony-online-entertainmentspotlighttabula-rasatalk-showthe soapboxthe-soapboxturbineturbine-entertainmentwarhammerwarhammer-onlineTue, 15 Mar 2011 17:00:00 -0400319|19878607https://www.joystiq.com/2011/01/06/facebook-civilization-game-now-called-civilization-world-clos/https://www.joystiq.com/2011/01/06/facebook-civilization-game-now-called-civilization-world-clos/https://www.joystiq.com/2011/01/06/facebook-civilization-game-now-called-civilization-world-clos/#comments

Civilization Network, Take-Two Interactive's first "social network game," will now go by the more global, less techie-sounding Civilization World. The Facebook title is expected sometime in 2011, and a closed alpha test will begin January 12.

Interested parties can apply now at the Civ World site, and they'll receive a confirmation email by January 10. Those who register will also receive a "special item" to display in their throne rooms. No word yet if plebs who are late to the party will be able to pay a couple bucks for that item when the game launches.

In his public address about the name change, Civ emperor Sid Meier also said that Civ World games will have a "well-defined beginning and end" and players will have "both a final goal to work towards, as well as short-term objectives to achieve as they play. The trophies you unlock with your triumphs will carry over from game to game, and you can show them off in your throne room." Okay, we're intrigued about a Facebook game -- time for some self-flagellation.
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civilizationcivilization-networkcivilization-worldfacebookmacpcsid-meiersocial-gamestake-twoThu, 06 Jan 2011 22:00:00 -050011|19790426https://www.joystiq.com/2010/09/17/civilization-5-review/https://www.joystiq.com/2010/09/17/civilization-5-review/https://www.joystiq.com/2010/09/17/civilization-5-review/#comments

Civilzation 5 is the love child of a clandestine tryst between Civilization 4 and Civilization Revolution. It is a game that shares genetic markers of both the PC and console iterations of the franchise, luckily receiving the best elements of both -- with a couple good mutations. Civ 5 has the grand, epic feel we expect from the series on PC, but so much of it has been streamlined for the better that Revolution's influence is undeniable.

I'm going to try something different in this review. Civilization has been around for almost two decades and the most divisive moment in the franchise's history was the creation of the console-based Civilization Revolution. With that in mind, I'm going to divide this review into three parts, with sections for [1] Civilization PC veterans; [2] those who enjoyed Civilization Revolution; and [3] "the uninitiated." Read all three perspectives and find out if this latest Civ unites the tribes.
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2k-gamesciv-5civilization-5civilization-vfiraxisfiraxis-gamespcsid-meiersid-meiers-civilization-5take-two-interactiveFri, 17 Sep 2010 14:00:00 -040011|19637994https://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/29/civilization-5-demo-releasing-same-day-as-game-september-21/https://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/29/civilization-5-demo-releasing-same-day-as-game-september-21/https://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/29/civilization-5-demo-releasing-same-day-as-game-september-21/#comments

Though Firaxis had previously promised that the demo for its upcoming strategy blockbuster, Civilization 5, would arrive before the full title's release on September 21, an update on the game's official site has announced that the demo will actually be available on the very same day as the game.

Firaxis apologized for the demo's delay in the aforementioned announcement, explaining, "at the time of that announcement, we expected to be able to get the demo out before the 21st, but unfortunately we weren't able to finalize it in the timeframe we had initially planned, and for that we're very sorry." Hey, don't beat yourself up about it, Firaxis. At least we'll still be able to play the demo before deciding whether or not to purchase the full game. Only, now, we'll be extremely bitter while we do so.
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civilization-5demofiraxis-gamespcrelease-datesid-meierstrategySun, 29 Aug 2010 11:30:00 -040011|19612429https://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/25/sid-meiers-pirates-for-wii-reaches-port-october-5/https://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/25/sid-meiers-pirates-for-wii-reaches-port-october-5/https://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/25/sid-meiers-pirates-for-wii-reaches-port-october-5/#comments

Continuing the never ending cycle that is The Pirate Game, The Ninja Game and The Zombie game, 2K Games will release its Wii version of Sid Meier's Pirates!on October 5 in North America. (No date for the West Indies, sorry.)

The conversion was handled by 2K China and incorporates motion control for the game's ship-boarding saber duels, along with a couple new minigames (bombardment and lock picking). In fact, even the classic original (and its 2004 update) basically comprised a mixture of minigames, from nautical combat, to diplomacy, to land battles and ... ballroom dancing. Who said pirates aren't classy? Not the dead men -- they tell no tales!
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2k-china2k-gamesnintendorelease-datesid-meiersid-meiers-pirateswiiWed, 25 Aug 2010 17:11:00 -040011|19607944https://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/04/civilization-5-public-demo-coming-in-september-firaxis-promises/https://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/04/civilization-5-public-demo-coming-in-september-firaxis-promises/https://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/04/civilization-5-public-demo-coming-in-september-firaxis-promises/#comments

Oh, so you think you're heading off into space for some distant world in September? Nope, you've got more pressing matters here at home. A public demo for Civilization 5 has been confirmed for September, "before the full game is released."

The missive can be found over on the game's official site, which promises more details on the exact nature of the demo and when rowdy road-builders can get their cultivation on, "coming soon." We'll be sure to update you all when we hear something, but in the meanwhile, you can get back to filling the coffers for that special edition you've had your eye on.
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2k-gamescivilizationcivilization-5demofiraxis-gamespcsid-meiersimulationstrategyWed, 04 Aug 2010 15:20:00 -040011|19580921https://www.joystiq.com/2010/04/14/sid-meier-career-and-48-hour-game-design-contest-documentary/https://www.joystiq.com/2010/04/14/sid-meier-career-and-48-hour-game-design-contest-documentary/https://www.joystiq.com/2010/04/14/sid-meier-career-and-48-hour-game-design-contest-documentary/#comments

Regardless of whether or not you've played any of Sid Meier's games, or whether or not you find yourself curious as to how he became a gaming luminary, or whether or not you've got 24 minutes to kill -- you've got to watch Motherboard's latest documentary. Its focus is on the history of Meier's game development career, as well as his participation in the 7th Annual Wolverine Soft 48 Hour Game Design Contest held at his Alma Mater, the University of Michigan.

More importantly, this short film contains all the requisite components of a gripping piece of cinema: hardship, confrontation, self-improvement, triumph, and the imbuing of a lingering desire to go back and play all of the Civilization games again. Seriously, go check it out.
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48-hour-game-designcivilizationdocumentarygame-designmotherboardsid-meiervideoWed, 14 Apr 2010 13:35:00 -040011|19439777